In 2025, fire departments serving Fieldale responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $65K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
85 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $811K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 28 | — | |
| 2023 | 15 | -46.4% | |
| 2024 | 15 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 17 | +13.3% |
* Well below Fieldale's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 4 building fires Fieldale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 37.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 8 | 29.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 3.7% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Fieldale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fieldale departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $19,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fieldale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,045 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,990 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 3,696 | 14.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 2,151 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,550 | 50.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,349 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,146 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,036 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 850 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 675 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 665 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 457 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 400 | 30.4 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Fieldale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fieldale.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.